Gonzaga, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville are top seeds in NCAA tournament

By CNN Staff

Updated 7:15 PM ET, Sun March 17, 2013

Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – Michael Jordan of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill takes the game-winning shot to beat Georgetown 63-62 in the final of the NCAA tournament in New Orleans on March 29, 1982.

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Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – Christian Laettner of Duke University shoots the game-winning shot with 2.1 seconds remaining to beat Kentucky 104-103 in overtime during the tournament on March 28, 1992, in Philadelphia.

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Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – Lorenzo Charles' dunk at the buzzer gave North Carolina State a stunning upset victory over Houston in the 1983 championship game.

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Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – From left, Gordon Hayward, Ronald Nored, Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard of the Butler Bulldogs celebrate after defeating the Murray State Racers 54-52 in the second round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament on March 20, 2010, in San Jose, California. Butler went on to advance to the Final Four for the first time in the school's history, but they were defeated by Duke 61-59.

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Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – The Villanova Wildcats celebrate after Scottie Reynolds made the game-winning shot to beat the Pittsburgh Panthers 78-76 during the East Regionals of the tournament on March 28, 2009, in Boston.

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Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – Jason Williams of Duke drives to the basket for a layup against Maryland during the semifinal tournament game at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on March 31, 2001. Duke overcame a 22-point deficit at one point to beat Maryland 95-84 and advance to the championship game.

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Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – Bryce Drew of the Valparaiso Crusaders talks to father and coach Homer Drew during a Midwest Regional game against the Florida State Seminoles in the second round of the tournament in Oklahoma City on March 15, 1998. Drew sunk a three-pointer with seconds to go to beat the Seminoles 83-77.

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Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – From left, UCLA players J.R. Henderson, Tyus Edney and Toby Bailey celebrate after beating UConn 102-96 in the NCAA West Regional final in Oakland, California, on March 25, 1995. UCLA went on to take the title by defeating Arkansas 89-78.

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Memorable March Madness moments9 photos

Memorable March Madness moments – Tate George of the UConn Huskies sinks the game-winning shot at the buzzer to beat Clemson 71-70 on March 22, 1990, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, moving them to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1964.

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Story highlights

Sixty-eight teams will be named for the NCAA men's basketball tournament

The women's tournament starts on Saturday with defending champ Baylor among favorites

This much we know for sure: There will be a new champion in men's college basketball.

A year after an impressive freshman class led Kentucky to its eighth national title, the Wildcats failed to make the 68-team NCAA tournament field this year.

Their in-state rival, Louisville, is the top seed in the tournament and the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region.

The Cardinals are joined by Gonzaga, Indiana and Kansas as No. 1 seeds.

The women's NCAA tournament pairings will be announced at 7 p.m. ET Monday.

Last season, a dominant Kentucky team rolled through the tournament, then lost six players -- including three freshmen starters -- to the NBA draft.

This season, the inexperienced Wildcats struggled, as a highly rated rookie class never jelled as a team. After going 21-11 (many of those losses by more than 10 points) and losing in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, Kentucky likely is bound for the National Invitation Tournament.

Meanwhile, 31 teams qualified automatically for what fans call March Madness by winning their conference tournaments or regular season titles.

The list also includes Liberty, which lost 20 games this season, but got hot in March and won the Big South tournament. The Flames will play Tuesday in one of the First Four matches against North Carolina A&T.

One of the surprise selections by the committee that chose the at-large teams was Middle Tennessee State (28-5), which the Sun Belt regular season title, but lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Here are the teams that locked up tourney spots by winning their conference crowns:

• Akron (Mid-American Conference)

• Albany (America East)

• Belmont (Ohio Valley Conference)

• Bucknell (Patriot League)

• Creighton (Missouri Valley)

• Davidson (Southern)

• Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun)

• Gonzaga (West Coast)

• Harvard (Ivy League)

• Iona (Metro Atlantic Athletic)

• James Madison (Colonial Athletic Association)

• Kansas (Big 12)

• Liberty (Big South)

• Long Island University Brooklyn (Northeast Conference)

• Louisville (Big East)

• Memphis (Conference USA)

• Miami (Atlantic Coast Conference)

• Mississippi (Southeastern Conference)

• Montana (Big Sky)

• New Mexico (Mountain West)

• New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference)

• North Carolina A&T (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)

• Northwestern State (Southland)

• Ohio State (Big Ten)

• Oregon (Pac-12)

• Pacific (Big West)

• Saint Louis (Atlantic 10)

• South Dakota State (The Summit League)

• Southern (Southwestern Athletic Conference)

• Valparaiso (Horizon League)

• Western Kentucky (Sun Belt)

In the women's field, the top four ranked teams are Baylor, Notre Dame, Connecticut and Stanford. According to ESPN's Charlie Creme, the quartet likely will be No. 1 seeds when the tournament begins Saturday.

Baylor (32-1), the defending champion, is led by center Brittney Griner, the reigning player of the year.